Reds miss out on quiet deadline day

Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers believes his current squad is strong enough to challenge for the Barclays Premier League title despite suffering transfer deadline day disappointment.

Rodgers was poised to land £15million Ukraine forward Yevhen Konoplyanka before last-minute complications with his club Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk scuppered the deal.

Rodgers told liverpoolfc.com: "If you look at the position we're in with 15 games to go, we have shown consistently that we have the squad to compete.

"The benefit of the second half of the season is that there is still a lot of development left in a lot of our young players."

Title rivals Chelsea are also looking to the future after landing 19-year-old St Etienne defender Kurt Zouma on a five-and-a-half year deal - though Zouma will remain at his current club until at least the end of the season.

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho said: "If we don't do it now, probably we can't do it in the summer because other clubs were also very strong on him."

Meanwhile Gael Kakuta joined Serie A Lazio on loan until the end of the season.

Arsene Wenger moved to strengthen Arsenal's Barclays Premier League title push by sealing the loan signing of Spartak Moscow midfielder Kim Kallstrom until the end of the season.

Leaving the Gunners is midfielder Emmanuel Frimpong, who has joined Championship side Barnsley in a permanent deal.

Dimitar Berbatov's colourful eight-year Premier League career came to a close as he left Fulham to join Ligue 1 title challengers Monaco on loan until the end of the season.

Fulham boss Rene Meulensteen responded by signing Lewis Holtby and John Heitinga on loan from Tottenham and Everton respectively, and Greek striker Kostas Mitroglu from Olympiacos for an undisclosed fee.

Crystal Palace snapped up Celtic midfielder Joe Ledley and Blackburn defender Scott Dann on permanent deals, and signed highly-rated Blackpool winger Tom Ince on loan until the end of the season.

Dani Osvaldo's ill-fated five-month stay at Southampton is over at least for now, with the Saints' club-record signing joining Juventus on loan with a view to a permanent move.

The Italy international penned a four-year deal but managed just 166 days at St Mary's, with Saints cutting their losses after an altercation with team-mate Jose Fonte last week.

There were no moves for Joleon Lescott - who took to Twitter to deny rumours of an impending departure from Manchester City - or Sunderland midfielder Lee Cattermole, whose move to Stoke fell through despite reports of a fee having been agreed.

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